Current work in the Evseenko Lab aims to address an unsolved question in skeletal biology: what are the cellular and molecular components of the “niche” required for the long-term maintenance of cartilage-committed progenitors capable of differentiation into articular chondrocytes?

Recently, our group defined the developmental progression through which primordial mesenchymal cells commit to the chondrocyte lineage in vivo. We are also using next generation sequencing approaches to study the transcriptome and epigenetic state at different stages of normal human skeletal development as well as in chondrosarcoma to understand key molecular circuits involved in cartilage commitment and differentiation. In addition, our laboratory is now focusing on the development of novel translational pluripotent stem cell and small molecule-based approaches for articular cartilage and bone regeneration. The laboratory is actively using pre-clinical in vivo models for cartilage and bone injury and repair.